Summary

Workforce planning encompasses those management activities which determine an agency's workforce requirements and staffing needs. Its primary purpose is to provide management with sound data to make informed workforce requirements and staffing management decisions and to provide the basis for the development and justification of an agency's personnel budget. GAO undertook a study on some of the primary factors that tend to inhibit the development and use of sound workforce planning procedures and techniques by the federal departments and agencies. Additionally, it identified several research efforts and recent proposals that need special management attention to improve the level and quality of workforce planning.

GAO found that one of the strongest and most consistent reasons agencies do not use workforce planning procedures is that the budget development and review process does not give appropriate consideration to the nature and extent of justification used in the personnel portions of agency budgets. Additionally, the absence of comprehensive policy, regulations, and standards governing or guiding agencies on workforce planning contributes to management's limited commitment. Other factors inhibiting the development and use of comprehensive work force planning include: (1) the apparent confusion regarding the definition, scope, and components of workforce planning and the sequence and cycle of planning tasks; (2) personnel constraints, such as personnel ceilings, average grade controls, and hiring and promotion freezes; (3) the slow progress in developing work and productivity measurement systems; (4) the unclear cost-benefit relationship with the development and use of a total workforce planning capability; and (5) the limited extent to which most agencies have developed integrated management information systems and have close operating relationships between principal management groups.